February Bloom Day

This month begins the third year since Carol at May Dreams Gardens dreamed up and began hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Congratulations Carol, and thanks so much for bringing us together for this monthly event!

February also marks the first anniversary since I dreamed up this blog, started on a whim.

Initially I signed up for a Blogger account to make it easier to comment on other peoples' blogs. After registering I was taken to a screen to start a blog myself, and I thought, "Why not! Hmmm. . . what kind of blog?"

Not even technically a bloom yet, I uncovered the first bud in the garden last week - a lone hellebore sporting a lone bud.

I thought for only a moment, and decided since gardening has been my life-long passion, why not make it a garden blog? I'd recently come across a few garden blogs, and decided it would be fun to share my passion for gardening through blogging.

Ok, I admit they're not blooms either - not even buds - but I'm crazy about caladiums. This pot of them never went dormant, and continue to light up the basement 'greenhouse' with their beautiful, delicate, almost-translucent, stained-glass foliage.

Since then I've visited with and been inspired by garden bloggers all over the world. I've learned a great deal over the past year, and discovered a new passion along the way - photography! Like gardening there will always be more to learn. The thing I've enjoyed most about garden photography is learning to see things in a different way. I've been inspired by seeing the gardens of other bloggers through their eyes and the lenses of their cameras.

Last year this oxalis was dormant over the winter. This winter, like the caladiums, it has remained growing. Like the caladiums, it has beautiful foliage. I'd love this plant even if it didn't bloom.

Last year as I began discovering and visiting garden blogs, I learned that a group of garden bloggers were planning to gather in Austin, Texas, the World's Capital of Garden Bloggers, for what became the first annual Garden Bloggers' Spring Fling.

The meetup was so successful, a second Fling was planned for 2009 in Chicago, my hometown. Little did I know last February that I would be privileged enough to work with a wonderful group of Chicago-area bloggers on planning the Fling, to be held in Chicago the last weekend of May. (For more information on the Fling, please visit our event blog.)

The geraniums have provided constant bloom in the basement, and have become the parents of several offspring as they wait out winter with me.

Also this month, I started training with the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener program, with the goal of sharing my passion for gardening through their volunteer program. I'm enjoying the classes, and looking forward to my first volunteer assignment next week.

I'll be at Chocolate Fest in a neighboring suburb, helping children transplant tree seedlings they can take home for spring planting in their own backyards.

It should be lots of fun. Combining chocolate, gardening, and kids . . . what could be more fun than that!

One of the geranium babies conceived in the basement is budding for the first time.

All in all, it's been a great year for gardening, and I've gotten so much pleasure from this first year of garden blogging. The best part has been getting to know all of you.

Who knew that a sudden whim to share the dreams, memories, and inspirations from my life and garden here in zone 5a would have led to such rich experiences?

Thank you to all who've shared these experiences with me this past year. I'm looking forward to discovering what pleasures the next years of sharing our gardening passions with each other may bring.